WordPress is getting a major fediverse upgrade
WordPress.com is putting its commitment to the fediverse into action this month with the launch of ActivityPub 1.0.0 for WordPress, a new plug-in designed to more closely link blogs with the fediverse.
The news comes from Automattic Design Engineer Matt Wiebe, who posted on X: “ActivityPub 1.0.0 for #WordPress is released today! Activate and your WP blog can now be followed in the fediverse, and receive replies back as comments.”
The WordPress plug-in comes just months after the company acquired ActivityPub, which in March offered an insight into the company’s commitment to the fediverse.
WordPress ActivityPub plug-in works with the fediverse
Wiebe added to the X thread a changelog for the now Automattic-owned plug-in, which includes some feature enhancements and bug fixes.
Currently, the plug-in only supports self-hosted WordPress blogs, but when asked about the future of WordPress.com on X, Wiebe said that support for Automattic’s platform would be “coming soon.”
While the fediverse remains a niche area of the market, more social media users are migrating to platforms like Mastodon from X, formerly known as Twitter, since drastic changes to the platform and its operations were introduced by new owner Elon Musk.
In the months that followed Musk’s takeover, more companies have expressed an interest in the fediverse. Late last year, the Vivaldi browser (which says it was the first one to have a Mastodon instance) integrated the social network directly into its browser.
Popular for its decentralized structure, the fediverse promises to give users more control over their data and the content they see. In an era of decreasing trust and dissatisfaction in traditional social media, services such as Mastodon could experience healthy growth over the coming years.
